All my Handsome men

All my Handsome men
kids fishing weekend 2011

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Zipper scar

My step son Cody is a very tall boy....he stands 5'11" at age 13. Well this fast growth at such a young age caused a major problem for Cody. We noticed about a year ago that his chest had a huge dent in it. His Mom took him to the Dr. to get it checked out and it turned out his ribs on his left side were not growing toward his sternum and protecting his lung and heart the ribs were turning in towards his spin and moving his heart out of the way and starting to squeeze his lung. He started having shortness of breath a few times and the connective tissue in there was getting inflamed. Well the Dr. decided he need to have surgery to correct this problem before it got worse but insurance decided the surgery would not be covered because it "cosmetic" in there books. It had to be life threatening for regular insurance to cover it. We then reached out to The Shriners Hospital. That organization is AMAZING!!!!!! They agreed to do Cody's surgery.....for FREE!!!!!! It was a very expensive surgery and they did it for free. I was so amazed a felt like our families had been bless. Cody had his surgery on Monday. It was 4 hours long and it is a 6 month recovery process. They went in and cut 3" off 4 ribs on one side and 2" off 3 ribs on the other side. they then used "bone cement" to connect the ribs back to the sternum and they but in a metal rod to hold his ribs in place till they heal in about 6 months and then they will go in and take the rod back out in 6 months. He has a long road for recovery ahead of him but he is a strong kiddo and will do great!! He is going to come stay with us for about a week when he is able to ride in a car for 2 hours without to much pain. Cody will soon have a "zipper scar" to show off LOL and when his Great Grandpa on his Moms side gets out of the hospital after having heart surgery they are going to stand together and compare/show off their "zipper scars"